Madeleine Albright Quotes

It is an unfortunate fact that in many parts of the world women are considered property. An awful lot of injustice is obviously due to that; not just women's status in the home, but all kinds of laws that are even more discriminating. ~ Madeleine Albright

Embrace the faith that every challenge surmounted by your energy; every problem solved by your wisdom; every soul stirred by your passion; and every barrier to justice brought down by your determination will ennoble your life, inspire others, serve your country, and explode outward the boundaries of what is achievable on this earth. ~ Madeleine Albright

Life is grim, and we don't have to be grim all the time. ~ Madeleine Albright

For me, America is really, truly the indispensable nation. ~ Madeleine Albright

I can't go out with a Republican. ~ Madeleine Albright

It takes more than one dove to make peace in the Middle East. ~ Madeleine Albright

People didn't think that a woman could be the Secretary of State, when my name was out there ... but then the Arab Ambassadors at the UN said 'We have no problem dealing with Ambassador Albright, and we would have no problem dealing with Secretary Albright.' ~ Madeleine Albright

US is a very religious country. Separation of church and state is part of our credo, but that it is hard to understand since our money says "In God we trust" and every President says "God bless America". ~ Madeleine Albright

I enjoy wearing pins, and nobody tells me to do it. ~ Madeleine Albright

It's one thing to be religious, but it's another thing to make religion your policy. ~ Madeleine Albright

The purpose of foreign policy is to persuade others to do what we want or, better yet, to want what we want. ~ Madeleine Albright

Jewelry and pins have been worn throughout history as symbols of power, sending messages. Interestingly enough, it was mostly men who wore the jewelry in various times, and obviously crowns were part of signals that were being sent throughout history by people of rank. ~ Madeleine Albright

As former secretary of state Madeleine Albright once said, "There's a special place in hell for women who don't help other women."14 ~ Sheryl Sandberg

Our life comes in segments, and we have to understand that we can have it all if we're not trying to do it all at once. ~ Madeleine Albright

We must be authors of the history of our age. ~ Madeleine Albright

One of the issues I kept saying to my students is you have to learn to interrupt. When you raise your hand at a meeting, by the time they get to you, the point is not germane. So the bottom line is active listening. If you are going to interrupt, you look for opportunities. You have to know what you're talking about. ~ Madeleine Albright

Our collective experience has shown that when women have the power to make their own choices, good things happen. ~ Madeleine Albright

Take it from someone who fled the Iron Curtain: I know what happens when you give the Russians a green light. ~ Madeleine Albright

And so I think that the idea of America working with other countries to solve problems is good for us, and it is part of digging us out of the 'my way or the highway' approach that was evident in the previous eight years. ~ Madeleine Albright

I think that there is never an indispensable leader, you know? I think that there is a time with dignity that one needs to leave. ~ Madeleine Albright

I have very set and consistent principles, but I am flexible on tactics. I like to get the job done. ~ Madeleine Albright

Because of my parents' love of democracy, we came to America after being driven twice from our home in Czechoslovakia - first by Hitler and then by Stalin. ~ Madeleine Albright

The system he (President Hosni Mubarak) is recommending would make it virtually impossible for truly independent parties to participate. Sham democracy should be exposed for what it truly is. ~ Madeleine Albright

To put it mildly, the world is a mess ~ Madeleine Albright

I don't actually believe in a clash of civilizations. I believe in a clash of the civilized and the noncivilized. ~ Madeleine Albright

I do consider myself a feminist. I know the word has weird implications for people now, but I do think that its important to have women involved, whether its business or public service or ... anything. ~ Madeleine Albright

In 1998, I was screening 'Good Will Hunting' at Camp David. And I was saying, 'Nice to meet you, Mr. President. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Clinton.' Madeleine Albright, Sandy Berger, Senator Daschle. It was an extraordinary day. ~ Lawrence Bender

It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent. ~ Madeleine Albright

Explore the world with an open mind, a sturdy carry-on, and clothes that don't wrinkle! ~ Madeleine K. Albright

Women are more than 50% of almost every country in the world. Countries rob themselves of the resources of women if they keep them as property. It isn't that women can't find work. It's just that women don't get paid for their work and are not recognized properly. It's something that has to be on the international agenda all the time. ~ Madeleine Albright

The lingering effects of war can inspire callousness even after the guns have fallen silent. Many of us have seen the notorious clip from 60 Minutes in which Madeleine Albright, then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and soon to be U.S. Secretary of State, declared that the price of half a million dead children as a result of the sanctions against Iraq during the 1990s had been worth it. ~ Thomas E. Woods Jr.

I loved being Secretary of State, that's probably evident to everyone who watched me. ~ Madeleine Albright

I picked out my Halloween costume. I'm going as 'Slutty Madeleine Albright.' ~ Conan O'Brien

If you look at U.S. history through religious history, there is very much a motif that shows the importance religion has played in the U.S. We're a very religious country and it affects the way we look at various political issues. ~ Madeleine Albright

People are finding it harder and harder to relate to foreign policy. ~ Madeleine Albright

I love being a woman and I was not one of these women who rose through professional life by wearing men's clothes or looking masculine. I loved wearing bright colors and being who I am. ~ Madeleine Albright

The greatest thrill in my life was to represent the United States of America. ~ Madeleine Albright

So there really was a whole series of things that took the women of my generation a little bit of time to push forward. ~ Madeleine Albright

A lot of people think international relations is like a game of chess. But it's not a game of chess, where people sit quietly, thinking out their strategy, taking their time between moves. It's more like a game of billiards, with a bunch of balls clustered together. ~ Madeleine Albright

For somebody who loves foreign policy, being Secretary is the best job in the world - but it doesn't happen twice. ~ Madeleine Albright

Every new president inherits headaches, but President Obama has inherited an entire emergency room. ~ Madeleine Albright

I've never seen America as an imperialist or colonialist or meddling country. ~ Madeleine Albright

We live in an image society. Speeches are not what anybody cares about; what they care about is the picture. ~ Madeleine Albright

The day-to-day making of policy is arguing all the time. You're trying to get the right approach and the right answer, and there are moments that aren't very pleasant. But in the end, you look at the overall product. ~ Madeleine Albright

I think there has to be the sense that once you have climbed the ladder of success, that you don't push it away from the building. ~ Madeleine Albright

It's important that we invest in America - literally. The terrorists wanted to destroy our economy, and we can't let our system fall apart. We also have to invest in one another. ~ Madeleine Albright

The process of education in the oldest profession in the world is like any other educational process, in that it requires time andeffort and patience; it can only be acquired by taking one step at a time, though the steps become accelerated after the first few. ~ Madeleine Albright

So people are talking about revolution. What a revolution it would be to have a woman president. ~ Madeleine Albright

I really do think about the fact that every day counts. I believe that every individual counts, and so I believe that every day counts and I try not to waste it. ~ Madeleine Albright

I think the personal relationships I established mattered in terms of what I was able to get done. And I did bring women's issues to the center of our foreign policy. ~ Madeleine Albright

Only in America could a refugee girl from Central Europe become secretary of state. ~ Madeleine Albright

Women can't do everything at the same time, we need to understand milestones in our lives comes in segments. ~ Madeleine Albright

I have to tell you, my seven-year-old granddaughter said to my daughter, her mother, 'So what's the big deal about Grandma Maddy having been Secretary of State? Only girls are Secretaries of State.' Most of her lifetime, it's true. But at the time it really was a big deal. ~ Madeleine Albright

My deepest regret from my years in public service is the failure of the United States and the international community to act sooner to halt these crimes. ~ Madeleine Albright

As strong as the United States is, we can't deal with terrorism alone. ~ Madeleine Albright

There's Madeleine, and then there's 'Madeleine Albright'. And I sometimes kind of think, who is this person? Once you become 'Madeleine Albright' it doesn't go away. ~ Madeleine Albright

Glass ceilings have been broken, but more have to be broken. ~ Madeleine Albright

As a leader, you have to have the ability to assimilate new information and understand that there might be a different view. ~ Madeleine Albright

I think women are really good at making friends and not good at networking. Men are good at networking and not necessarily making friends. That's a gross generalization, but I think it holds in many ways. ~ Madeleine Albright

Our predecessors understood that the ties that bind America are far stronger than disagreements over any particular policy and far more durable and profound than any party affiliation. ~ Madeleine Albright

Nobody's ever said that pins are a tool of diplomacy. ~ Madeleine Albright

If there's nobody in your way, you're not going anywhere. ~ Madeleine Albright

One of my trips was to meet with the Gulf Cooperation Council with all the Saudi foreign ministers, and when we started the meeting I said 'Perhaps you've noticed that I'm not dressed the same as my predecessors, but no-one had a problem and I was never treated with anything other than respect ... So I did not have problems with that, interestingly enough. ~ Madeleine Albright

Why, since man and woman were created for each other, had He made their desires so dissimilar? Why should one class of women be able to dwell in luxurious seclusion from the trials of life, while another class performed their loathsome tasks? Surely His wisdom had not decreed that one set of women should live in degradation and in the end should perish that others might live in security, preserve their frappeed chastity, and in the end be saved. ~ Madeleine Albright

I was a little girl in World War II and I'm used to being freed by Americans. ~ Madeleine Albright

Leaders are made by the situations they are involved in. I think that some rise to the occasion and some do not. ~ Madeleine Albright

Joschka Fischer was a Green Party politician and Germany's foreign minister. We hired Mr. Fischer, as well as former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, as advisors because we, as an automaker, want to know, for example, how new emissions laws will develop in the United States, Europe and Asia. Fischer and Ms. Albright have diverse contacts worldwide. They can call our attention to trends early on, information from which we can benefit. ~ Norbert Reithofer

Hillary Clinton will always be there for you. And just remember - there's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other. ~ Madeleine Albright

I did go to Wellesley, a women's college. And I am of a kind of strange generation which is transitional in terms of women who wanted to go out and get jobs. ~ Madeleine Albright

Don't make me into this airy-fairy, moralist, idealist because I'm not. ~ Madeleine Albright

We have a responsibility in our time, as others have had in theirs, not to be prisoners of history but to shape history, a responsibility to fill the role of path-finder, and to build with others a global network of purpose and law. ~ Madeleine Albright

I loved what I did. I could've been secretary of state for ever. ~ Madeleine Albright

NATO has been a thread throughout my life. ~ Madeleine Albright

The world would be entirely different if it were run by women. I think it is true that we are more seeking consensus and don't have such big egos and have a variety of different ways of trying to get along. But anybody who says that the world would be better has forgotten high school. It depends on who the women are. ~ Madeleine Albright

Tell me,' the man leans forward ans says, 'have you heard of a lady called Madeleine? No? In 1996, this lady named Albright Madeleine, the US ambassador to the United Nations, was asked on television how she felt about the fact that five hundred thousand Iraqi children had died as a result of US economic sanctions? Do you know what she said? She said that it was "a very hard choice" but "we think the price is worth it". These are her exact words. How do you feel about that?
'How do you think I feel about that? And I would take your love for children more seriously if you didn't have children cleaning your floors. ~ Nadeem Aslam

The administration does not agree with those who suggest we should deploy hundreds of thousands of American troops to engage militarily in a ground war in Iraq. ~ Madeleine Albright

Even before I went to the UN, I often would want to say something in a meeting - only woman at the table - and I'd think, 'OK well, I don't think I'll say that. It may sound stupid.' And then some man says it, and everybody thinks it's completely brilliant, and you are so mad at yourself for not saying something. ~ Madeleine Albright

I had more problems with the men in our own government, and not because they were male chauvinistic pigs but because they had known me for so long. I might have been a carpool mother and a friend of their wife, and so they'd been to my house for dinner and things like and they thought 'how did she get to be secretary of state when I should be secretary of state?' So that was more of a problem. ~ Madeleine Albright

Jewels have played a colorful part in the evolution of world affairs. Because precious stones tend to inspire both admiration and greed, leaders have found convenient excuses for seeking them and have used them to impress crowds, reward friends, deprive foes, forge alliances, and justify war. Jewels may find their highest expression in the decorative arts, but they have also earned a place in the art of the possible. ~ Madeleine Albright

We must help women in every society to have their voices heard. ~ Madeleine Albright

Peace is not a spectator sport ~ Madeleine Albright

I think that we had a different view of what the 21st century could be like, with much more of a sense, from our perspective, of trying to have an interdependent world: looking at solving regional conflicts, having strength in alliances, operating within some kind of a sense that we were part of the international community and not outside of it. ~ Madeleine Albright

Libraries are fun, educational, and the biggest bargain on the face of the earth. ~ Madeleine Albright

But I do not believe that the world would be entirely different if there were more women leaders. Maybe if everybody in leadership was a woman, you might not get into the conflicts in the first place. But if you watch the women who have made it to the top, they haven't exactly been non-aggressive - including me. ~ Madeleine Albright

Democracy cannot be built on revenge and you will not have the support of the world if you are intolerant and take the law into your own hands. ~ Madeleine Albright

I have always seen the United States as a force of good. And I have learned that there is the idealistic part about what we can do at the U.N. and there is a doable part. And I have learned what is more doable. ~ Madeleine Albright

What distinguishes Americans from many people in the world is our kind of endemic optimism. ~ Madeleine Albright

Mahmoud Abbas is a puppet. ~ Madeleine Albright

I never dreamed about one day becoming Secretary of State. It's not that I was modest; it's just that I had never seen a Secretary of State in a skirt. ~ Madeleine Albright

We are very hip on the fact that America's always No. 1. On this we are not, in terms of the number of women in our legislative branches and obviously as head of state. We need to push on that. I hate to say this: It isn't all men's fault. I think some of it is our own attitude and approach. Some of it very healthy, that women want to make choices about their lives and how they want to spend their time, and what they value. ~ Madeleine Albright

I think that we all know what evil is. We have a sense of what's evil, and certainly killing innocent people is evil. We're less sure about what is good. There's sort of good, good enough, could be better - but absolute good is a little harder to define. ~ Madeleine Albright

We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the stability and security of his neighbors with weapons of mass destruction. ~ Madeleine Albright

I get up every morning and I'm grateful for everything that has happened. I go through my list about being grateful for my children and grandchildren, and for the really remarkable life that I have been able to have. ~ Madeleine Albright

The bottom line is, the more we have a cadre of women moving up the scale, and it doesn't seem threatening, and people realize that women actually work much harder than men, and realize that they need more women in these jobs, I think that goes away. ~ Madeleine Albright

In 1953, the United States played a significant role in orchestrating the overthrow of Iran's popular prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh. The Eisenhower administration believed its actions were justified for strategic reasons, but the coup was clearly a setback for Iran's political development and it is easy to see now why many Iranians continue to resent this intervention by America in their internal affairs. ~ Madeleine Albright

There are an awful lot of things going on that need understanding and explanation, but - to put it mildly - the world is a mess. ~ Madeleine Albright

The Framework Agreement is one of the best things the [Clinton] Administration has done because it stopped a nuclear weapons program in North Korea. ~ Madeleine Albright

I think that a president needs to have a variety of views presented. But also, there has to be a team effort, because otherwise, I think it creates a dissonance and difficulty. ~ Madeleine Albright

No matter what message you are about to deliver somewhere, whether it is holding out a hand of friendship, or making clear that you disapprove of something, is the fact that the person sitting across the table is a human being, so the goal is to always establish common ground. ~ Madeleine Albright

I have said this many times, that there seems to be enough room in the world for mediocre men, but not for mediocre women, and we really have to work very, very hard. ~ Madeleine Albright